Description
This book brings together over thirty of the foremost contributions to environmental ethics, from pioneering papers to recent work at the cutting edge of thought in this field. It also unites them through an innovative introductory essay which appraises both strengths and weaknesses and presents a distinctive view of the subject. Areas covered include the land ethic, Deep Ecology, biocentric approaches, environmental virtue ethics, feminist contributions, debates on equity and on the interests and representation of future generations, preservation, sustainability and sustainable development. The importance of attempts to discover a comprehensive ethic relevant both to the environment and other key areas of ethical debate is highlighted. Robin Attfield has been working in this field for thirty years, and has published several related collections and monographs, of which the latest is Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the Twenty-First Century, published by Polity in 2003. The Ethics of The Environment complements that work, from which it incorporates a significant extract about the considerable practical difference that environmental ethics is capable of making.
Table of Contents
Contents: Introduction; Part I Values and the Environment: Is there a need for a new, an environmental, ethic?, Richard Sylvan (Routley); Is there an ecological ethic?, Holmes Rolston III; Anthropocentrism, atomism, and environmental ethics, Donald Scherer; Postmodernism, value, and objectivity, Robin Attfield; Why environmental ethics shouldn't give up on intrinsic value, Katie McShane; Nature - every last drop of it - is good, Alan Holland. Part II The Land Ethic and Deep Ecology: The land ethic, Aldo Leopold; The shallow and the deep, long range ecology movement: a summary, Arne Naess; Hume's Is/Ought dichotomy and the relation of ecology to Leopold's land ethic, J. Baird Callicott; The land ethic and Callicott's ethical system (1980-2001): an overview and critique, Y.S. Lo; The inadequacy of Callicott's ecological communitarianism, Darren Domsky; Radical American environmentalism and wilderness preservation: a 3rd World critique, Ramachandra Guha; Nature, self and gender; feminism, environmental philosophy and the critique of rationalism, Val Plumwood; Beasts versus the biosphere?, Mary Midgley. Part III Biocentric Approaches: On being morally considerable, Kenneth E. Goodpaster; The ethics of respect for nature, Paul W. Taylor; The nature and possibility of an environmental ethic, Tom Regan; Biocentric individualism, Gary Varner; A biocentrist strikes back, James B. Sterba. Part IV Virtue Ethics and Human Values: Ideals of human excellence and preserving natural environments, Thomas E. Hill Jr; Environmental ethics and weak anthropocentrism, Bryan G. Norton; Must a concern for the environment be centred on human beings?, Bernard Williams; When utilitarians should be virtue theorists, Dale Jamieson. Part V Equity and the Future: Nuclear energy and obligations to the future, R. and V.Routley; Why care about the future?, Ernest Partridge; Global environment and international inequality, Henry Shue; Adaptation, mitigation and justice, Dale Jamieson; Giving a
